The board’s Democrat majority in 2015 used Browning-Ferris to expand joint employer liability to include situations in which a business exerts indirect control over workers. A Republican-majority board in December used Hy-Brand to overturn that decision and return to a more limited “direct-control” standard for joint employer liability. Berry later said Emanuel should have sat out Hy-Brand because his former law firm—Littler Mendelson—represented a subcontractor involved in Browning-Ferris. Emanuel shouldn’t have joined the board in urging the agency’s general